As the new state budget director, Benjamin Barnes will be one of the most important players in the new administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.
With a projected deficit of $3.4 billion in the next fiscal year, Barnes has been working non-stop on the numbers in a job that he says is "all-consuming'' and is a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.''
Barnes, 42, appeared Thursday in front of the legislature's nominations committee, which took the first step toward approving Barnes's nomination by holding a public hearing.
The state's projected deficit, Barnes said, is essentially unchanged from the Office of Policy and Management's projection in November - under Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell.
"We're still in a big hole,'' Barnes told legislators Thursday. "I am hopeful. In the last recessions, two years later, things were rebounding. If I peg it to the Lehman Brothers collapse, two years was four months ago.''
The Lehman bankruptcy came in mid-September 2008, which started the cascading downfall of stock prices on Wall Street and threw the nation into a deeper recession.
In his new job, Barnes said he is already focusing on Medicaid, which is one of the largest portions of the $19 billion state budget and "demands attention by its sheer scope.'' With the upcoming changes in the nation's healthcare system in 2014, Barnes said the date of 2014 might seem far away but is actually right "at our door.''
On a day-to-day basis, Medicaid is being overseen by one of Barnes's appointees, Anne Foley, who is a longtime employee in the budget office through several administrations.
In his testimony, Barnes said he is looking for "a culture of investment'' as a way of using state funds to leverage improvements in state services.
Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney, the committee's co-chairman, asked Barnes about promoting regionalism in a state that has 169 towns that have been "jealously self-protected fiefdoms'' through the decades.
The bespectacled Barnes responded that the regions need to function well in a wide variety of areas, including transportation.
"It's the traffic jam in Norwalk that makes it take so long to get to Stamford,'' Barnes said.
Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, who will be dealing extensively with Barnes as the budget is negotiated in the coming months, welcomed his new colleague as the state faces one of the largest deficits in its history.
"While I say congratulations, you also have my condolences, but we're in this together,'' Williams said.
In answering questions from Republican Sen. Len Fasano, Barnes said that paying 10 percent of the state's budget on interest and principal is "moderate debt service'' when compared to other states.
"In Stamford, we always aimed for 10 percent,'' Barnes said. "Our debt levels were consistently characterized as moderate by the rating agencies. ... I think 10 percent is moderate. It's a good goal.''
He added, "As you exceed 10 percent of the budget, there has to be a rational reason for doing that.''
With high unemployment and low interest rates, Barnes said, "Now is a very good time for the state of Connecticut to be making capital investments.''